Battersea Park Family Photographer

West London family photo shoot

Battersea Park in West London is one of my favourite places for family photos. It’s a park with so much variety in a relatively small area and there’s always opportunities to find quiet corners even on the busiest mornings. Of course, starting at 8am, we pretty much had the place to ourselves for the beginning of this amazing family photography session and even as the day went on we always found spots where we could play without getting other people in the background. Battersea park is perfect for family photos.

This session was such fun all the way through and I’m so pleased to be sharing a sneak preview here today. If you like what you see and would like to book your own session this summer, do get in touch via my contact form, I’d love to hear from you.

What makes a perfect family photo shoot?

The best ingredients for a really successful family photo shoot are a relaxed attitude and a sense of humour. This family were brilliant, so chilled out and so fun, and that meant the kids were relaxed too and we all had such a great time. By going with the flow and following the moods of the children, I was able to take a really wide variety of images while the children pretty much forgot I was there. They were just having a brilliant day with their parents and I was hanging out and having fun.

We started with a few family shots just to make sure we had something in the bag and then let the session develop, the kids always have the best ideas on how to have fun.

Playground and the wonder of the imagination

It wasn’t long before we were in the playground, sailing an imaginary ship and bouncing across a lava field. The kids were such great climbers, especially up a slide which was very impressive in one so young.  We had such fun and I love all the parental interaction as they play. It will be so lovely to be able to look back and see these joyful and unposed moments from our family photo shoot in Battersea Park as the kids grow up.

The Bandstand

Everyone loves a bandstand. While you don’t hear bands playing on them so much anymore – although Greenwich Park does wonderful summer concerts – they are always an amazing place to play. I have so many memories of my own childhood running around the bandstand, cycling around the bandstand, roller blading around the bandstand, you name it, we played it.

It was lovely to see these children playing in the bandstand in the same way. It’s clearly a favourite place and they had such a fun time running around, jumping, playing and making the space their own.

The River

The Peace Pagoda in Battersea park erected in 1985 made a beautiful element in the backdrop of pictures when we found a patch of grass in the shade to play. It’s lovely to include London’s impressive landmarks in the photos as they give a sense of place to the images. We enjoyed running around on the grass by the river, playing some football, picking some daisy’s and having fun in the wonderful warm weather. I love finding a spot and then letting games develop, the interactions are always so delightful and spending a bit of time in an area allows me to experiment with different focal lengths and approaches to the images to create a wide variety of pictures for my clients.

The children wanted to look at the river and we had an amazing moment when we were looking down at the boats when a huge flock of crows flew by us, it was a fun moment and made for a lovely picture.

Relaxed family photography where we can take breaks as required

As everyone was getting a little tired by this point we decided to have a break for a biscuit and a book – it’s always good to bring snacks on a photo shoot and I’m always happy to take breaks as needed. It is great fun having your photo taken, but its energetic too with all the running about and fun and games and so quiet moments have their place.

Also, as I’ve discovered over the years, quiet moments often result in my favourite pictures. This daddy daughter reading a book picture which opens this blog is an all-time favourite – look at that laughter and joy as they read together. While mother and son have their own moment in the spotlight in a glorious sequence of images as they play in the long grass.

Finishing with hide and seek

We finished our wonderful morning with a game of hide and seek in the secret garden which was so much fun. There is nothing that delights me more than a game of hide and seek, it never fails to create wonderful pictures with joyful expressions as children, and adults, love it so much. The kids find the hiding and the seeking so fun, the adults find the children’s hiding and seeking so hilarious and adorable. It’s a win-win for everyone.

What a fabulous day it was, and I’m thrilled with the pictures. I hope you have enjoyed this sneak preview I’ve shared and I can’t wait to share the full selection with the family in due course, I wonder which pictures will be their favourites